Steam-expander.



No. 831,785. PATENTED SEPT. 25, 1906.

o. A. GILMORE. v STEAM EXPANDER.

PPLIGATION FILED NOV. 6, 1905.

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CHARLES A. GILMORE, OF MOCOMB, MISSISSIPPI.

STEAM-EXPANDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 25, 1906.

A li ati filed November 6,1905. Serial No. 286,051.

To a whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLEs A. GILMORE, a citizen of the United States, residing at McComb, in the county of Pike and State of Mississippi, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Expanders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a steam-expander, and has for its object the pro vision of a device of this character so arranged in the smoke-stack of a locomotive as to maintain a more complete vacuum at the smokearch of the boiler than has heretofore been possible with the de vices in use.

As is well known, it is customary to have the exhaust-steam from the cylinder of locomotives discharge into the smoke-stack of said locomotive to increase the draft through the tubes of the boiler and to thereby cause said boiler to steam more readily. The degree in which this object is accomplished is efi'ected not only by the velocity of the steam, but also by the extent to which said steam fills the smoke-stack. It is necessary in order to secure a proper draft through the tubes of the boiler to provide a stack of considerable size. If the steam-nozzle used for directing the steam into the stack be made of such size that the steam therefrom will completely fill the stack, the velocity of said steam will be greatly reduced and its effect in maintaining a draft through the tubes of the boiler will also be reduced. If, on the other hand, the nozzle be made sufficiently small to maintain the velocity of the steam, said steam does not completely fill the stack, and consequently does not maintain as strong a draft through the boiler-tubes as would be the case if the steam did fill the stack. Is is to obviate the foregoing difficulty that the present invention is particularly designed.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which now follows.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section through the boiler of the locomotive, taken upon the line of the smoke-stack and the steam-nozzle; and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section upon line 2 2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 5 designates a saddle, upon which is mounted a locomotive-boiler 6. Secured by bolts 7 to boiler 6 is the usual smoke-stack 8. Supported in the smoke-stack by a spider composed of the oppositely-disposed rods 9 and 10 is a conical steam-expander 11, said rods passing through said steam-expander and the side of the smoke stack and being headed upon the exterior thereof. Located directly below steam-expander 11 and in alinement therewith is a steam-nozzle 12, which tapers toward its upper end and communicates with the exhaust-channels 13 and 14 at its lower end.

The operation of the device is as follows: The exhaust-steam from the engine-cylinder passes from steam-nozzle 12 and impinges upon the inclined walls of the steam-expander 11, by which it is deflected in such a manner as to cause said steam to entirely fill the stack.

Peculiar advantages reside in locating the steam-expander in the stack instead of locating it in the smoke-box. These advantages arise from the fact that if a steam-expander be located below the mouth of the stack some of the steam will be directed under the smokearch 15, where it becomes what is known as dead steam and must be drawn into the stack in the same manner that the smoke from the boiler-tubes is drawn in the said stack.

WVhile the particular arrangement of the steam-expander herein shown is well adapted to serve the purpose for which it is intended, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction set forth. Different means of mounting the steam-expander in the stack may be used, if desired, and changes within the scope of the appended claim may be resorted to without departure from said invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim is In a device of the character described, the combination with a locomotive-boiler, of a smoke-stack carried by said locomotiveboiler, a steam-nozzle arranged to discharge the exhaust-steam into the smoke-stack, a conical steam-expander located within the smoke-stack and 'a pair of supporting-rods arranged at right angles to each other and passing through said steam-expander and through the walls of. the smoke-stack and being headed upon the exterior of said stack.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES A. GILMORE. WVitnesses:

LEIGH WATKINS, T. W. JAMES. 

